In recent years people with antisocial aberrations have undertaken lethal hijackings of aircraft resulting in severe losses of life and property. Among the solutions to this problem which have been advanced are strengthened physical security at airports, various baggage security techniques, the introduction of armed air marshals on flights, arming of pilots, and strengthening of cockpit doors. The latter procedure has proven effective in incidents which have occurred since the recent emphasis on the process of “hardening” aircraft doors, but it is apparent that the brute force solution of requiring a plurality of iron bars to be built into the doors for hardening, while effective against a frontal assault, does not protect against missiles tossed into the cockpit, and adds an undesirable amount of unproductive weight to the aircraft, inhibiting performance and reducing the potential payload.